A Drop of Water
                A Zen master named Gisan asked a young student to bring him a pail of water to cool his bath. The student brought the water, and after cooling the bath, threw onto the ground the little that was left over.
                "You dunce!" the master scolded him. "Why didn't you give the rest of the water to the plants? What right have you to waste even one drop of water in this temple?"
                The young student attained Zen in that instant. He changed his name to Tekisui, which means a drop of water.

[More]

Nothing Exists
                Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.  Desiring to show his attainment, he said: "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received."
                Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.
                "If nothing exists," inquired Dokuon, "Where did this anger come from?"

[More]

The True Path
             Just before Ninakawa passed away, the Zen master Ikkyu visited him. "Shall I lead you on?" Ikkyu asked.
            Ninakawa replied: "I came here alone and I go alone. What help could you be to me?"
            Ikkyu answered: "If you think you really come and go, that is your delusion. Let me show you the path on which there is no coming and going." With his words Ikkyu revealed the path so clearly that Ninakawa smiled and passed away.

[More]

Your Light May Go Out
A student of Tendai, a philosophical school of Buddhism, came to the Zen abode of Gasan as a pupil. When he was departing a few years later, Gasan warned him: "Studying the truth speculatively is useful as a way of collecting preaching material, but remember that unless you meditate constantly your light of truth may go out."

[More]

Flower Shower
Subhuti was Buddha's disciple. He was able to understand the potency of emptiness, the viewpoint that nothing exists except in its relationship of subjectivity and objectivity. One day, Subhuti, in a mood of sublime emptiness, was sitting under a tree. Flowers began to fall about him.
            "We are praising you for your discourse on emptiness," the gods whispered to him.
            "But I have not spoken of emptiness," said Subhuti.
            "You have not spoken of emptiness, we have not heard emptiness," responded the gods. "This is true emptiness." And blossoms showered upon Subhuto as rain.

[More]

Not Far From Buddhahood
A university student while visiting Gasan asked him: "Have you even read the Christian Bible?"
            "No, read it to me," said Gasan.
The student opened the Bible and read from St. Matthew: "And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these...Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself."

[More]

Today we share expressions of love, not lust.  I think you'll remember these for a very long time...

Comments (0) | Print | Send | del.icio.us | Linking Blogs | 46 Views